Tuesday, May 20, 2014

The Reauthorization of the ESEA & the "HUB"

In regard to the reauthorization of the ESEA (see previous post), federal, state, and tax-exempt funding (notably the Mott Foundation) for "limited learning for lifelong labor" has taken place for many years under the label of "Community Education." Controversies over this Communist form of "lifelong education" under the umbrella of the unelected school superintendent and his/her unelected council caused "it" to go underground until the nineties when it resurfaced under other labels, e.g., "community schools," etc. We (Guardians of Education for Maine) killed it in Maine in the mid-'70s, due mainly to its unelected council form of government.

Iowa's Director of the Dept. of Education, Dr. William Lepley, gave an interview in 1989 in which he spilled the following "red" beans:

KENT TEMPUS WROTE “EDUCATION IN THE FUTURE: 21ST CENTURY SCHOOLS WILL OFFER Learning for All Citizens” for The Muscatine [Iowa] Journal’s April 22, 1989 issue. Excerpts follow:

Schools in 21st Century Iowa will be hubs of their communities], providing broad learningopportunities for all citizens, according to the director of the Iowa Department of Education.William Lepley says future schools will be centers for family and social services as well.“Society in the year 2010 has realized that the school is the single societal institution that cantruly be an advocate, a resource, and a catalyst for children and families, as well as learnersof all ages,” Lepley said.... Students’ evaluation will improve. Instead of grades, students willbe assessed not on the work they complete, but on the skills they master, he explained.

Community service will be a graduation requirement. Also, educational opportunitiesare available for all citizens from preschool to adults. The school year won’t be restrictedto 180 days of 5–1/2 hours each, because flexible schedules and teacher contracts will permityear-round learning, he said. “Teachers in ideal schools are managers of the learningenvironment,” Lepley said. “The teacher has been given the tools to be able to diagnoselearning needs and to prescribe appropriate activities.” Schools themselves will change too,Lepley noted. The ideal school houses social agencies such as health, job, and human serviceagencies, child care and serves as the community’s senior citizen volunteer center, he said.And adults come to ideal schools—open round the clock—for educational opportunitiesranging from childbirth and parenting classes to pre-retirement planning, he added. In theideal community, Lepley said, the superintendent coordinates children and family services,in addition to education.

See the Farrell School District "hub" graphic in the previous post. In my book I went on to describe what these circular diagrams ominously mean:

[Ed. Note: Lepley used the term “hub” in this article and in a pamphlet distributed widelyacross Iowa to describe the school of the future which will encompass numerous social serviceagencies, health care, job training, child care, etc. This concept mirrored the CommunityEducation plans promoted by the Mott Foundation of Michigan and incorporated into federalgrantmaking under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

A multitude of state reform plans in the early 1990s include diagrams of this same plan,exhibiting the school as the center (or “hub”) of the community; significantly, some diagramsshow churches, recreation and other private aspects of life encompassed within the “hub”concept. With the advent of school-to-work programs, the concept has been expanded toinclude “one-stop training centers” for workforce development and placement. Children whodon’t pass the proficiency assessments will be sent through these “centers” for services andremediation which will rely on operant conditioning methods to ensure “success”.

Substitute “government” for schools like this “hub” plan and what political/economic systemdo we have? Who exactly asked for—voted for?—this alien “education” system which placesour citizens and communities under the control of the unelected school superintendent?]